The turbine wheel, usually a cast nickel-based alloy, used in turbocharger is a high-speed rotating component that is exposed to high temperature combustion gasses between temperatures of about 980° C. to about 1020° C., depending upon the application. To withstand such a high temperature, the nickel-based alloy material should be oxidation resistant as well as dwell-fatigue resistant while rotating in the approximately 200,000-300,000 RPM range. Existing alloys for such applications all have various deficiencies: For example, the Mar-M-246 nickel-based alloy is relatively expensive, whereas the IN-713C nickel-based alloy exhibits inferior high-temperature properties.
Therefore, it will become apparent to those skilled in the art that there remains a present and continuing need for the provision of improved nickel-based alloys and turbine wheels included such nickel-based alloys. Particularly, it would be desirable to provide an alloy based on Mar-M-246 but with an improved chemistry that reduces costs significantly while still retaining the desirable high-temperature oxidation and dwell-fatigue resistance of Mar-M-246. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the disclosure.